Book Review: God's Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universeby Rich Deem

Book Review

Synopsis:
A "who done it" of cosmic proportions.Summary: God's Crime Scene is an epic who done it from the eyes of a cold-case criminal investigator. J. Warner Wallace, a former atheist and an expert at rules of evidence,
who examines the evidence for the origin of the universe using examples of criminal cases he has investigated and prosecuted.

Rating:

Rich Deem

Introduction

Jim Walace's first book,
Cold-Case Christianity became my favorite Christian
apologetics book because it examined the evidence for the truth of the Christian
gospels from the perspective of a cold-case criminal investigator. Wallace, a
cold case detective and former atheist, uses the rules of evidence and logic to
examine whether the Bible's gospel books are true accounts of a historical Jesus
Christ. His latest book,
God's Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe,
examines the evidence for the origin of the universe to determine if the
universe can be explained from a purely naturalistic perspective or whether it
requires a supernatural explanation. Four lines of evidence are considered; cosmological
evidence, biological evidence, mental evidence (consciousness) and moral evidence.

Evidence from "outside the room"

As in his first book, Walace gives examples of criminal investigations as
ways of looking at evidence to determine whether or not a crime had been
committed. Can the scene be explained solely by looking at the evidence
"within the room," or does it require the presence of an outside purpetrator
to explain what happened? In
God's Crime Scene,
Wallace examines the universe as if it were a crime scene, to determine if
the evidence can be explained solely by looking "within the room"
(naturalism) or whether it requires the actions of an outside purpetrator
(God).

Examination of evidence

Wallace does a great job examining all possible explanations of the
evidence for wether the universe is the result of naturalistic processes or
whether there is evidence of divine intervention. For each topic examined,
he compares multiple naturalistic theories to the evidence for divine
design. Using logic and the rules of evidence, Wallace determines which
explanations fit the evidence the best.

Secondary investigations

God's Crime Scene,
moves through the evidence quickly, with minimal detailed explanations in
order to maintain the flow of the arguments. However, for those
interested in a more complete explanation of each argument, Wallace has
written an extensive "secondary investigation" appendix that goes into each
argument in more detail. The technique works well, since those who aren't
interested in the details can get an overview of the arguments without
getting bogged down with technical details. God's Crime Scene also includes "investigative notes"
(references) for those interested in the original sources or more thorough
study.

Expert witnesses

In many criminal cases, expert witnesses are employed as trained
specialists who testify about specific, detailed attributes of evidence.
Wallace calls upon "expert witnesses" who are qualified to examine the
evidence of specific arguments made throughout God's Crime Scene. These witnesses include those who are both
supportive and hostile to the premise that God created the universe, giving
a balanced approach to arguments.

Conclusions

God's Crime Scene
is a compelling examination of the evidence for the creation of the universe by
God. God's Crime Scene,
like Jim Wallace's previous book, Cold-Case Christianity,
uses examples of criminal cases to determine if divine creation is a viable
alternative to naturalism. Wallace clearly shows that Someone "outside the room"
was responsible for the "crime scene" of cosmic creation, the origin of life,
human consciousness, and transcendant moral truths. The book is highly
recommended and quite readable, since technical details are relegated to the
"secondary investigations" chapter so as to not bog down the flow of the
arguments.